Not content just to say that Colorado transportation funding is their top priority, state Senate Republicans will introduce a bill on the opening day of the legislative session Wednesday that seeks bonding voter approval for as much as a $3.5 billion bond sale, Senate President Kevin Grantham said today.

Similar measures have died in the state Legislature for three years in a row, but the financial situation this year is very different.

Because of the improving economy and federal tax reform, Colorado is expected to bring in as much as $1 billion more in uncommitted funds between this current fiscal year and the fiscal year that begins on Jan. 1 — and Grantham said a significant portion of that money should be going toward the $9 billion backlog in transportation needs that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) projects over the next 10 years.

Senate Majority Leader Chris Holbert, R-Parker, said today that he was grateful to the governor and his budget director, Henry Sobanet, for the request, but believes that the Legislature should put closer to $300 million toward roads next year and each year thereafter. That commitment of $300 million would allow for bonding of $3 billion to $3.5 billion, if Colorado voters were to approve the bond sale at the November ballot.

Legislative Republicans have talked generally about increasing the amount of transportation funding in the ballot, but today was the first time that Senate leaders offered specific details about their plans.

The Aurora Sentinel not so lovingly called us “an affable confederacy of crackpots…”

We’ve been called a lot worse, but what is the crazy notion we’re being taken to task for this time? We foolishly believe that taking care of our roads is one of the core functions of our state government, and should be prioritized before cronyistic giveaways and giving Obamacare to healthy people who can afford private insurance.

And we know we can fix our roads without raising taxes by 21%. But we need your help toady.

A bill working its way through the legislature, HB-1242, would do just that, raise the state sales tax by 21% to go to “transportation.” But under this bill “transportation” is defined as more transit, a slush fund for cities and what’s left over goes to fix our decaying roads.

Note to the reader: In 2013, concerned Jefferson County taxpayers elected three conservatives (including yours truly) to represent their interests on the Board of Education. Within minutes of the election — two weeks before we were even sworn in — the teachers union began a campaign to unseat “these bastards.” My latest Opinion column delves into the recall election’s surly evolution and its ultimate consequence. It’s also an admonition to the teachers union to heed the old Chinese proverb: When you set out to destroy someone, first dig two graves. ________________________________________________________________

When, in the course of taxable events, it becomes necessary for the People to deny a request for increased school tax levies, a decent respect requires that we should declare the causes which impelled us to this action. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that the future of our Republic rests upon the preeminent education of our children, and when public education fails to meet its potential, it is the right and duty of the People to alter it. Therefore, let the facts be submitted to a candid world. You have endeavored to portray our sub-50% academic proficiency as acceptable, so long as our District ranks higher than neighboring districts.

You have encumbered public assets with dubious “Certificates of Participation” in order to fund projects which, given sensible analysis, could have been completed without debt.

We expect our representatives to serve their full terms, yet you had them untimely ripped from office via a duplicitous recall election which we subsequently learned was neither “parent driven” nor “a grassroots effort” but funded almost entirely by your labor unions. In doing so you sent us an indelible message that, while you will eagerly accept our tax dollars, you are less than eager to accept our direction.

Accordingly, with these Declarations, understand that it is not our intent to give offense, but to provide the Administration with reasonable justification as to why we remain disinclined to approve any further tax increases until such time as meaningful change is both accepted and effected.

We are, respectfully,

The Jefferson County Taxpayer Majority

Bottom line: Jeffco’s school tax measures didn’t fail because they were “poorly worded” or “not specific enough.” They failed because tax proponents squandered their political capital on a deceptive recall election that left a bitter aftertaste with voters once the truth came out. For the teachers union, the 2015 Jeffco recall was a textbook Pyrrhic victory — a frantic fever dance that ultimately cost their members millions in lost revenue (and which should haunt their short-sighted strategists for years to come).

Make no mistake, a thoughtful bond and mill levy crafted by a bipartisan board would have passed. Instead, disaffected Conservatives, Libertarians, and Independents who could have pushed it over the top voted no — in what they saw as the proverbial taxation without representation.

A student at Indian Peaks Elementary School works on a project in class.

Stung that a proposed 2016 ballot initiative that would have sent millions of dollars to Colorado classrooms was abandoned, a coalition of school funding advocates is quietly meeting to consider crafting a different package for the 2018 election.

Great Education Colorado, a nonprofit that advocates for school funding, has pulled together education leaders and community organizations to discuss the issue. How big the ask might be and details such as potential ballot language are unknown because the group’s work has just begun, said Lisa Weil, the nonprofit’s executive director.

“We have to prepare the ground for something to be successful,” Weil said. “This work is to make sure we don’t miss an opportunity.”

The working group is made up of representatives from organizations such as the Colorado PTA and the Colorado Rural Alliance. Faith leaders and organizations that advocate for people of color and those with disabilities also are participating.

Weil declined to identify the organizations but said “we have to have a broad organization thinking about this.”

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